World Bank Initiative 'Zero Routine Flaring by 2030'

OMV endorsed in January 2017 the World Bank Initiative “ Zero routine flaring by 2030” to end the routine flaring of associated gas during oil production. OMV’s endorsement of the Initiative is a clear commitment to responsible resource management and sustainable business practices linking environmental and economic objectives.

The Initiative was launched in 2015 by World Bank together with the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. The Initiative aims to eliminate the existing oil industry practice of routinely flaring gas at production sites by 2030, and to ensure new oil fields are developed with associated gas utilization solutions and without routine flaring or venting. According to World Bank flaring at oil production sites around the world causes more than 350 million tons of CO2 emissions every year. If the gas that is flared globally every year were used for power generation, it could provide about 750 billion kWh of electricity, or more than the African continent's current annual electricity consumption.

OMV requirements

Based on OMV’s new Group Standard Environmental Management as well as the requirements from the endorsed World Bank Initiative OMV has to

• design new projects with no continuous and routine flaring and venting of gas
• end the legacy routine flaring and venting at existing operational sites through implementation of all viable solutions, as soon as possible, but no later than 2030.
• report its routine flaring data annually to World Bank.
  
  OMV flaring and venting reduction projects

Since 2008 OMV has reduced its direct annual CO2 emissions by nearly 1 million tons via a combination of flaring and venting reduction and energy efficiency projects. By introducing the zero routine flaring policy, OMV will further reduce its direct CO2 emissions by around 1.5 million tons per year. This is achieved by utilizing innovative technologies at its oil production sites which reprocess/redirect the associated gas previously flared or vented for other diverse purposes, for example:

• OMV Petrom Upstream consumes the associated by-product gas to produce onsite electricity and heat via gas-to-power (G2P) and combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Until end 2016, 31 projects have been implemented, with a combined installed capacity of 65 MW delivering 318,000 tons of CO2 emission annually and significant OPEX savings.
• In Tunisia zero routine flaring in operated assets will be achieved with the OMV South Tunisia Gas Valorisation Project.
• In Yemen, OMV plans to implement the Habban field electrification project, where currently flared gas will replace the diesel for on-site electricity.
  
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